Trevor Hall

Growing up on an island off the South Carolina coast, Trevor Hall cultivated a deep appreciation for sun-soaked acoustic sounds, echoing both the shoreline atmosphere associated with Jack Johnson and the unhurried rhythms pioneered by Bob Marley. While still a teenager he issued the 2006 EP The Rascals Have Returned through Geffen Records, after which his composition “Other Ways” found a place on the Shrek the Third soundtrack the following year. Subsequent recordings continued to merge reggae, roots traditions, and Eastern mysticism, among them the 2011 Billboard 200-charting album Everything Everytime Everywhere, the 2015 release KALA, and the more personal 2020 project In and Through the Body. Additional 2022 collaborations surfaced in the form of “Pacific Coast Highway” alongside the Hip Abduction and “Hold On” with roots outfit Gone Gone Beyond, paving the way for the 2023 studio album Trevor Hall and the Great In-Between.

Born in Connecticut yet raised in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Hall committed to a musical path early and captured his self-released debut album, 2004’s Lace Up Your Shoes, by age sixteen. He soon relocated to California to enroll at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, where classical-guitar studies introduced him to yoga and meditation—practices that would shape both his personal outlook and his songwriting. In 2006 the still-adolescent artist readied his major-label introduction for Geffen Records; the resulting introductory EP The Rascals Have Returned, helmed by producer John Alagía, offered a calming blend of reggae, folk, and roots rock. Commercial response remained modest, prompting the label to end the partnership in 2008, though Hall had already contributed “Other Ways” to the Shrek the Third soundtrack. White Ballon Records then released his follow-up, This Is Blue, that same year.

He maintained an active touring schedule, sharing stages with Ben Harper, Matisyahu, and the Wailers, and returned to the studio for a self-titled 2009 album that highlighted reggae elements and marked his first release on Vanguard Records. The label next issued the live set Chasing the Flame: On the Road with Trevor Hall in 2010. His subsequent Vanguard full-length, 2011’s Everything Everytime Everywhere, was produced by Jimmy Messer and peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Top 200. In June 2014 he delved further into spiritual themes on the more pop-oriented Chapter of the Forest; a year afterward came the intimate five-song EP Unpack Your Memories…, succeeded by the full-length KALA, titled after the Sanskrit term for “time.”

Choosing independence, Hall crowd-funded his next project and issued it in stages timed to selected lunar cycles, with the opening three tracks of The Fruitful Darkness appearing in September 2017 and the completed album arriving in July 2018. The standalone single “Put Down What You Are Carrying,” featuring Brett Dennen, accumulated millions of streams in 2020, the same year he and his wife Emory Hall established the Where the Rivers Meet Foundation to sustain their ongoing humanitarian work in India and Nepal. August 2021 brought the full-length In and Through the Body on the 3 Rivers imprint; produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Nathaniel Rateliff), it included two collaborations with his wife. During 2022 he released the singles “2 Oceans” (with Marieme) and “Hold On” (with Gone Gone Beyond) while also appearing on the Hip Abduction track “Pacific Coast Highway.” The following year saw the entirely self-produced Trevor Hall and the Great In-Between emerge on his own 3 Rivers label. Cut inside the barn-turned-studio behind his residence, the exploratory collection addressed parenthood in “Hello My Son,” creativity in “Shake It Out,” and eternal love in “Losing You.”